Chart demonstrating low achievement levels in Milford School District for language arts
Chart showing low achievement levels for Milford School District in math
At a recent meeting, the Milford School District Board of Education heard details on what the Delaware Department of Education Report Card will show for the district over the next year. Based on the data collected from the 2023-24 school year, a significant number of Milford students are not meeting standards in both language arts and math.
“I always like to start my presentation by sharing one of the core beliefs that really impacts and influences everything that we do around academics,” Dr. Kelly Carvajal Hageman, Chief Academic Officer, said. “We believe that the foundation for excellence is rooted in an academically rigorous curriculum, rigorous for all students, supportive instruction and high expectations for each learner.”
According to the information provided by Hageman, 41 percent of Milford School District 11th graders do not meet state standards in language arts while 66 percent do not meet state standards in math. The numbers are not much better for elementary students with 40 percent of third graders, 44 percent of fourth graders, 38 percent of fifth graders, 43 percent of sixth graders not meeting standards in language arts. In math, 40 percent of third graders, 33 percent of fourth graders, 45 percent of fifth graders and 51 percent of sixth grades were not meeting standards.
As for middle school, 47 percent of seventh and 37 percent of eighth graders were not meeting standards in language arts. Math data showed 55 percent of seventh graders and 64 percent of eighth graders were not meeting standards. After presenting the data, Hageman provided the board with details on how the district was addressing the poor scores.
“One of the things that I always do when I approach any kind of organizational change as is that if you provide a vision, you provide the skills, provide motivation and the resources and an action plan, it can equal change,” Hageman said. “I’m going to walk you through how we’ve kind of built that out so that we can see the kind of change that our community, our students, our staff deserve.”
The first step was creating a strategic plan and Hageman credited Superintendent Bridget Amory with their efforts in building the plan.
“Now it is our job to execute that plan and to remind everyone of what our vision is, and then provide the support so that we can achieve that vision,” Hageman said. “The second step is skills and, using phrases I learned from the Milford Police Department, which is that skills must be unified, standardized and trained upon, we are using a strategy with the University of Delaware to provide additional support to educators who teach English and math.”
Motivation is another key area that the district is promoting to improve learning outcomes in students, providing educators with a shared sense of urgency to make improvement. Additional data analysis tools are also being provided to educators so they can identify and pinpoint areas where students need additional assistance.
“Lastly, part of our skills initiative is our professional learning plan, because we need the time and we need a really strong plan in order to get all of this done, it’s not easy work, and on professional learning days, our staff are working very hard in order to complete all of the tasks,” Hageman said. “This articulated plan is aligned to the Milford School District strategic plan, and that’s an intentional alignment with school data. This plan is monitored and evaluated next.”
The district is also focused on better utilizing resources available to them as well as additional training time for teachers. Hageman explained the administration worked on the school calendar to build in additional learning times for teachers, adding shared planning times for educators who may teach similar subjects.
“The Common Assessment Plan is another action plan that is a strategy that we’re using, particularly in grades three through eight, and that is to build district wide fluency with data analysis, as well as expose students to rigorous item types that mirror the items that they will see in the end of the year assessment,” Hageman said. “For example, the end of the year Smarter Balanced Assessment has items that are not typically provided in day-to-day school.”
Hageman explained there were questions on the state assessment that have more than one correct answer and if a student doesn’t choose all correct answers, it is marked wrong. Students are also struggling with questions where they have to drag and drop the correct answers. These are testing skills that teachers will work on over the next year to also improve outcomes.
“You alluded to the fact that the numbers are not good,” School Board President Scott Fitzgerald said. “But it looks like you have spent a lot of time putting other a plan to improve them.”
The full report card can be found online through the Department of Education website.
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